Spirited Rapid Come Up Short Against Salzburg

Rapid fought hard with the league-leaders as Berni Zimmermann’s goal kept the game close for a long time. Eventually, a crucial save would help turn the match in Salzburg’s favour, and the Green & Whites must therefore wait to confirm a top six spot.

At 17:00 on Sunday evening, it was time for the biggest game of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga weekend to get underway, with a Match Day 20 clash between SK Rapid and table-toppers Salzburg. After a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture, Rapid would aim to break a 16 game run without a victory against the reigning champions, the motivation - as if any extra was needed - would be the guarantee of a place in the Championship Round with a win. Unfortunately, Head Coach Zoki Bariśić would have to do without Ferdy Druijf who was absent with a thigh injury, but the Salzburg-born midfielder Patrick Greil was ready to go from the off, alongside the returning Marco Grüll, and six-goal forward Berni Zimmermann.

After talk in the pre-match press conference about being “on it from the start”, the early moments were as far from perfect as they could have been, as a quick free kick saw Salzburg break forward, and Nicolas Seiwald slotted in for the guests after just four minutes. Rapid’s first half-chance came three minutes later, as Grüll was chopped down on the right by Strahinja Pavlovic, who picked up a booking. The resulting set-piece dropped dangerously in the box, but was scrambled clear. The home side soon found their feet in the contest, and the next phase of the game was an even fight, with only a dangerous cross from Guido Burgstaller of note (15’). Rapid kept plugging away down the right flank, yet there were always enough red shirts in place to repel the attacks, and the closest the Green & Whites came was from a pass through the middle, which was controlled and fired just over the top by Burgstaller on the edge of the box (20’).

Nicolas Capaldo and Jonas Auer went into the book as tempers began to flare halfway through the first period, but other than Niki Hedl remaining alert to pick off a few forward passes, chances on goal were at a premium. Just before the break the game came to life again with a flourish; a quick grab in the box saw Hedl defuse a tricky cross into the danger-zone (42’) before Rapid broke away down the left via Grüll. He skipped past the defender and whipped in a low delivery towards Zimmermann, who slid in brilliantly to turn the ball past Philipp Köhn for the equaliser (44’). 1-1 on the stroke of half time, and the packed Block West had a goal to celebrate after a quick VAR scare!

The away side started to control possession after the restart, but Pavlovic was perhaps a touch lucky not to receive a second yellow when he clattered Niki Hedl after a cross (47’). Seiwald sliced a shot off target for Salzburg after 54 minutes, but Rapid were struggling to repeat the kind of clean break which led to the late leveller in the first half. Patrick Greil got a shot on target from the edge of the box after 64 minutes, but it was too tame to trouble the keeper, and then Aleksa Pejic survived a strange red card check as a relatively innocuous challenge was pulled back for “only” a yellow card (70’).

On the eve of the Rapid quarter-hour, goal scorer Zimmermann was replaced by Ante Bajic, before the crowd of 24,200 rose to their feet to roar the team into the final 15 minutes. The support so nearly saw Rapid hit the front, as a Denso Kasius cross was met by the head of Burgstaller, he picked out the bottom corner, but Köhn got down for a tremendous save, and then blocked the follow up from Grüll as well (76’). It would prove to be a big turning point, as Salzburg went down the other end, and when a through ball bounced kindly into the path of Benjamin Sesko, he sliced his shot completely, yet still found the back of the net from eight yards out (80’).

Rapid had some good news as Dejan Petrovic made his return to action after a long absence, but any positivity was short-lived, as Sesko was played in on the left, and sent the ball into the far corner of Hedl’s goal to make it 3-1 to Salzburg (84’). The same player would complete a quick hat-trick as he dribbled into the box and cut the ball in once more (88’) to make the scoreline 4-1, a bizarre score which was not reflective of what had been a close game for so long. Burgstaller would score his header eventually, as he nodded in a Jonas Auer cross with the last move of the match (95’), meaning it finished 4-2 to the visitors.

There were positives to take from the overall performance, but Rapid must now look ahead to two massive games, starting with 6th placed WSG at home next Sunday, before an away derby against Austria which may well decide the top six standings. IT’S NEVER DULL!

Pictures: GEPA